“As soon as he says the word,” Crosby said. “As long as he feels confident I can take a hit, I’ll be confident as well. I’m not going to take any more time. If he says I can play, I will play.”

Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune: Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom was injured during their pre-game warm up last, forcing Josh Harding to make his first NHL start in three months. While Backstrom was reaching for a puck, he rolled over in pain. The injury could be a groin or knee, coach Yeo is calling it a lower-body injury.

Jeremy Rutherford: From Kings defenseman Robyn Regehr after last night’s game: “It’s just a broken nose. I got lucky.”

Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe: Bruins Nathan Horton had missed the last five games with an upper-body injury, was back practicing on a line with Milan Lucic and David Krejci. If Horton is in, Carl Soderberg would be a likely scratch, along with Jay Pandolfo and Rich Peverley.

Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets Marian Gaborik is heading to Philadlephia to see an abdominal specialist. If he’s cleared by doctors, he’ll play for Slovakia in the World Championship.

“If it goes well, that (he) will not need surgery, Marian has the consent of (the Blue Jackets’) owner to launch at the World Cup,” Team Slovakia general manager Otta Sykora told the website. “It would, in the case of a positive report, mean that maybe on Thursday or by Friday morning, Marian could be in Helsinki.”